


Keeping the Balance

by Sand_wolf579



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I like her anyways, Lena is a bit of a bully, Mild Injuries, Older brother Huey, Sibling Bonding, Webby is their honorary sister
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-22 19:55:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12489608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sand_wolf579/pseuds/Sand_wolf579
Summary: Huey took on the role of the older, responsible triplet. Being the one in charge though was really hard sometimes, especially when one of his brothers was keeping secrets from them. Throw in a teenager who was a bit of a bully, and a girl who was a little intense for his liking, and Huey was in for a hard time.





	Keeping the Balance

**Author's Note:**

> *First posted on fanfiction.net*  
> I've finally buckled down and got an account on AO3, so now I'm trying to put my stories from fanfiction.net up here too. I haven't figured out how to make it work with my older stories, but my newer ones, like my first ever Ducktales story, should be fairly simple...hopefully.
> 
> Anyways, I wrote this because I felt like Huey needed more attention. He seems to be the older brother triplet, and I wanted to explore that some more.

Moving from a boathouse to a mansion was a pretty big change. The boys no longer had to share a small, crowded room. The mansion was so big that each of them could have their own wing if they wanted to. Not that they needed one, which was why Huey had decided to not point that out to Louie. His brother was excited enough as it was to have his own room, and he didn't need any more free space.

The second that they had moved in with their Great Uncle Scrooge Louie had declared which bedroom was his. Huey swore that Louie had had one in mind before they even knew that they were moving in, though he didn't know how that was possible when none of them had really gotten the chance to explore much of the house.

Dewey had chosen a bedroom too, though not as enthusiastically as Louie had. Dewey just wanted somewhere to put his things and call his own. There were plenty of rooms in the house, and Huey knew that he could have his own bedroom too, but he instead chose to stay on the boat. He felt like somebody should stay on it with Uncle Donald. And with his brothers out of the room, even the small bedroom on the boathouse seemed large.

Besides, Huey didn't think he would even be able to sleep on this huge, soft beds in the manor. The triplets had spent practically their entire lives living with their uncle on the boathouse, and Huey had gotten used to the steady rocking of the boat. Even when it was just sitting in Uncle Scrooge's pool, the wind still rocked the fragile boat slightly, and Huey found the movement to be rather soothing.

As much as he prefered the familiar, if old room on the boat, every single night since coming to stay at the manor Huey found himself entering the house and going to either Louie or Dewey's room. They all had their own rooms now, but they were all so used to sharing a small space with each other that even though they were glad for their own space, all three of them also appreciated knowing that their brothers were right there if they were needed.

For the first few nights all three of the brothers had gotten together in either Louie or Dewey's room and just talked. Something had happened though. Huey wasn't entirely sure why, but more and more frequently Dewey seemed to be coming up with one excuse or another to either stay in his room, which he had switched to be closer to Webby's, or to join the girl in her room to look into something.

Huey didn't know what was going on between the two of them, and it bugged him. Not that he necessarily wanted to know what the two of them were up to, because he really didn't care. Huey just didn't like how secretive Dewey was being about it.

Dewey and Webby were hiding something, and that bugged Huey more than he was ever going to admit.

He tried not to let it get to him though, and he tried even harder to not let it show. Huey didn't want to push his brother into admitting what was going on, because he was afraid that he would just end up pushing Dewey away from him. And Huey really didn't want to let Louie in on his concerns, because he would either make fun of him for worrying about nothing, or lash out at Dewey for making him worry over nothing.

Huey just kept things to himself. It wasn't the first time he had done such a thing, and he knew that it wasn't going to be the last.

As concerned as Huey was, he wasn't going to let it ruin things. He and his brothers had a tradition, and just because Dewey skipped out on it at least half the time didn't mean that Huey was going to do the same.

"Oh, Louie!" Huey said in almost a sing songy voice that his brothers liked to make fun of. It wasn't his fault that he got excited about things. He entered his brother's room without knocking. Louie was slumped on the bed, but when he saw Huey come in he noticeably sat up straighter. He almost looked relieved, though he was trying pretty hard to hide it. And, of course, Dewey wasn't there. Huey pushed back his disappointment before Louie could take notice of it.

"Huey, I was beginning to think you weren't going to show up." Louie said. He probably meant it as a joke, but Huey had grown up with him. He knew how to recognize the doubt in his brother's eyes.

He wasn't about to mention it though, because Louie was sensitive about how sensitive he was, and if Huey mentioned anything about it Louie would likely close up his emotions even tighter than he already did, and that was the last thing that huey wanted.

"Sorry I'm late." Huey joined his brother on the bed. "I got caught up with something." Huey didn't mention what exactly he had been doing. He had spent the last half an hour waiting out in the hallway to see if Dewey would show up. If he did, then Huey wanted him to be the first in the room, so that, for the first time in far too long, Louie would see Dewey as the responsible triplet that he could count on. They would tease Huey for being the last to show up when he was usually right on time, and he wouldn't even complain because things would finally feel like they were back to normal.

But that wasn't what had happened.

And now Huey just felt bad about keeping Louie waiting for so long. He had probably started to believe that both of his brothers had found something better to do than talk to him...or Louie might have just gotten bored. Honestly, it was a little hard to tell sometimes.

"So, what did I miss in the latest episode of Ottoman Empire?" Huey asked, partially because he was intrigued by the show, and partially because he really enjoyed how enthusiastically Louie could talk about it.

"Eh, nothing much." Louie shrugged, which immediately confused Huey. That wasn't what was supposed to happen. "It was just the same as any other episode." But why wasn't he talking about it? Even when Louie hated the show and just watched it because it happened to be on, he would still find things to rant about. But he had never just shrugged about the show like this before. Something was wrong. Or, at the very least, abnormal.

Huey scooted closer to his brother. "What was different about today?" Huey asked his question in a way that could be interpreted towards the show, or just in general. It all depended on what mood Louie was in.

Louie shrugged again, though this time it wasn't in an indifferent way, but in an unsure way...people would be surprised just how many different meanings were behind Louie's shrugs. It had taken Huey years to understand them as much as he did, and he still got thrown off sometimes.

"I don't know." Louie said. "I got distracted." Louie was silent for a moment before he turned to Huey. "Dewey and Webby were running in and out of the room researching...something."

Huey frowned. He had noticed that Dewey and Webby seemed to be pretty focused on...something. Huey had no idea what they were up to, but they seemed to be pretty serious about whatever it was.

"Was there something wrong with what they were doing?" Huey asked, because over the years Louie had gotten pretty good at blocking out distractions. He only ever got distracted if something around him was confusing and he actually had to stop and think about it.

"I don't think so." Louie frowned thoughtfully, which really wasn't a look that Huey saw on his face very often. "The two of them have just been spending a lot of time together, haven't they?"

Huey sighed. "Yeah, I noticed that too."

"...You don't think they're-" Louie's face scrunched up in disgust.

"No." Huey said before Louie could even finish the question. "There's no way they're together." If they were, then why would they be spending so much time researching something? Neither Dewey nor Webby were what one would call 'normal', but there was no way that either of them actually thought of reading as a romantic date. "Dewey probably just got Webby involved in one of his crazy conspiracies."

Louie slouched slightly. "He usually gets us involved."

Huey elbowed his brother teasingly. "I thought you hated when he did that."

"I do." Louie scowled slightly, though it looked more like a pout than anything. "It's just...it was our thing. I'm cool with including Webby, but does that mean that he has to leave us out?"

"Yeah." Huey found himself slouching too, because he honestly felt the same way. If it was just a one time thing, it would be fine. Just because they were triplets didn't mean they had to be glued at the hip all the time. But they were still brothers, and they had always been extremely close, but now it felt like they were somehow less close. It was just a little bit, but it was still enough for both Huey and Louie to notice.

"Hey, don't worry about it." Huey forced an optimistic grin on his face. "He's probably just excited to have somebody else around who hasn't heard his theories on where to find bigfoot."

"Yeah." Louie snicked. "He's such a nerd."

"At least he's not a dork like you." Huey teased as he grabbed one of Louie's pillows and knocked him in the face with it. Louie soon retaliated with a pillow hit of his own, and within seconds the two of them were having a pillow fight. Huey was just glad that Webby wasn't there, because she would end up turning it into an all out pillow war, complete with possible fatalities. It didn't matter that pillows were soft and the whole purpose of using them for a pillow fight was that it wouldn't hurt, she would find a way.

The two of them goofed off like this for a good amount of time before Huey noticed that Louie was getting tired. It was then that the cap wearing triplet suggested that it was time they go to bed. His brother didn't like this idea very much.

"Nooooo." Louie moaned dramatically. "Sleep is for the weak."

"Weak is exactly what you're going to be if you don't get a decent night's sleep." Huey pointed out. This earned him another pillow hit in the face. "Come on, Louie, you know I'm right. Remember what happened when Dewey stayed up all night reading his comics? Do you want that to happen to you?"

"Ugh, fine." Louie snatched his pillow back from Huey before he could walk away with it. He then laid out on his bed, taking up more space than was probably necessary. This was just Louie's way of appreciating how much room he had. Huey hopped off the bed and headed for the door. He paused with his hand on the doorknob and looked back at his brother.

"Good night, Louie." Huey said.

"Yeah, yeah," Louie lazily waved an arm in a shooing motion. "G'night." Despite his protests, Louie already sounded like he was half asleep.

Huey smiled and turned off the light before leaving the room. He was feeling pretty tired himself, but he wasn't quite ready to turn in yet. He had one more stop to make first.

Huey walked down the hallways, moving without doubt or hesitation towards his destination. On their first day there he had memorized the layout of the whole house, so he knew exactly how to navigate through the halls. He soon found himself in front of Dewey's room.

Huey took in a deep breath. He pushed back all his negative emotions and forced his face into one of neutrality. If he showed that he was disappointed in or upset with his brother, than Dewey would get defensive and he would refuse to listen to a single word that Huey would say.

Huey opened the door, once again, without bothering to knock. They were brothers who had shared a small room for their entire lives. They didn't have anything to hide from each other.

Or, at least, Huey hadn't thought that they did. When Dewey saw him though he yelped in surprise and quickly drew his blanket over the books and files that were spread out across his bed. Maybe he really was hiding something.

"Huey, what are you doing here?" Dewey asked in a loud, slightly panicked voice that he usually reserved for when Uncle Donald or Scrooge caught him doing something that he wasn't supposed to be doing. "Haven't you ever heard of knocking?"

"We never knock." Huey reminded him. He saw an old photo face down on the ground. Huey bent down to pick it up, but Dewey dove to snatch it up before he could even get a proper look at it.

"Well, maybe we should start." Dewey gently put the photo underneath his blanket with everything else. "What do you want anyways?" Well, at least he hadn't kicked Huey out. He was still acting civil enough, he was just hiding something.

"I...was just wanting to say good night." Huey said unsurely. "You didn't come over to Louie's room."

Dewey's eyes widened. "Oh. Sorry, I just...got caught up with something."

Huey had suspected as much. As busy as Dewey had been these past few nights, Huey knew that he wouldn't intentionally choose not to join them. He just had other things on his mind. Huey understood that. He just wished that his brother would learn how to prioritize things like this.

"It's fine." Huey said, though it really wasn't. If this had just been the first or second time that this had happened, then maybe Huey would be more understanding, but it was just happening more and more frequently. "Just...try not to let this get out of hand."

"I won't." Dewey swore, though they both knew that it already was.

"Great." Huey gave his brother a small smile. "And, uh, maybe you could go say goodnight to Louie? Let him know that you haven't completely forgotten about him."

"Forgotten about him?" Dewey narrowed his eyes slightly. Huey could have hit himself. That had been poor wording, and now Dewey was getting defensive. "Why would you say that?"

"It's just that, well, you've been skipping out on this nightly talk an awful lot lately." Huey said slowly.

"So what?" Dewey asked. "This is just something new that we've been doing. I think that Louie will survive if I don't make it every single time."

Dewey didn't get it, which Huey had half expected. Dewey just didn't understand how sensitive Louie could be sometimes. And he certainly didn't understand just how important these nightly talks were.

"Just try to put more of an effort into this, okay?" Huey asked. "For me?"

Dewey sighed. "Yeah, okay." Huey could hear in his voice that he didn't really understand what the big deal was, but Dewey knew that it was important to his brothers, so he was going to do his best.

"Great." Huey stood there for a moment and tried to decide whether or not he should ask what Dewey was up to. He was curious, but he had the feeling that his brother would clam up if asked about it, so Huey ultimately decided against it. "Well, good night."

"Night." Dewey said, and Huey tried to pretend that he didn't notice the relief in his brother's voice as he left.

Huey walked back to the boathouse in the pool in silence. He knew that tomorrow morning any of the tension or bitter feelings would be pushed to the very back of their minds. Things would feel normal again until tomorrow night. Huey just wasn't sure whether this was a comfort, or an even bigger concern.

Morning came, and it was as though there had never been any conflict between the boys. The three of them and Webby played fine with each other, just like they always did. At first they started off in the mansion, but Mrs. Beakley would only tolerate so much of their playing before she sent them off to wreck somewhere else.

After some debating, the four of them decided to head off to the playground. It had been Huey's idea, because he figured that a regular, normal setting without too much excitement would help ease Webby into acting like a regular, normal kid. Huey liked Webby, intense personality and all, but her solitude up to this point just wasn't healthy for a kid. She had missed out on a normal childhood, and because of it she was always concerned that somebody was out to get them, almost on a paranoia level. Sure, sometimes he concerns had turned out to be true, but that wasn't the point.

Huey wanted to show Webby the advantages of just being a normal kid...and he also maybe wanted her to calm down a bit with her games. It was clear that she enjoyed her war games, especially now that there was somebody to play with, but they were way too intense for Huey to handle, and he knew that his brothers felt the same way.

He just wanted Webby to realize that slowing down and taking things easy could be fun too, and a lot less dangerous. If they were always playing Webby's games, Huey just knew that one of them would end up hurt, and that was the last thing that he wanted.

Webby took spending a quiet day at the park fairly well. She was actually excited to be going there, because she remembered having fun when she had been there with Lena.

...Speaking of Lena.

"So, this is where you guys come for fun? You guys are just getting more and more regular and boring.." Huey tensed his shoulders at the teenagers words. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Louie and Dewey exchange cautious glances and then look at him with nervously. They didn't have anything to worry about though. He just shrugged her words off. He wasn't going to let Lena get to him, even if he was getting tired of her teasing.

Huey wasn't really all that fond of Lena, but she was friends with Webby, which meant that she was now a member of their growing group. Huey would be perfectly fine with it, if it weren't for the fact that Lena was, well, a bit of a bully.

She was fine with Webby, of course she was, or else she wouldn't choose to hang out with them. She didn't seem to think much of the boys though. Huey wasn't really looking for her approval, but he didn't like her words about how they were all the same. That was the kind of thing that the other kids used to tease them about when they were younger, and the reason why Louie tried so hard to set himself apart from his brothers.

And then there was the fact that Lena was constantly trying to convince Webby that the boys were leaving her out, and she implied that they did it on purpose. That was just unfair. Yes, they had left Webby on the beach when they went out, but they hadn't wanted to. Huey had even volunteered to stay behind so she could adventure with his brothers. Webby was the one who insisted that the three of them go out, and now, because of Lena, she was upset that they had left her?

And was it really so bad that they had private jokes? It wasn't their fault that they had known each other for their whole lives before they had met Webby. Huey and his brothers had gone through things that only they would understand, but that didn't mean that they were leaving Webby out. In fact, all three of them were trying really hard to make her feel included, and now, because of Lena, it was almost like all of their efforts had been in vain.

It was a little disheartening that Webby never felt the need to defend them, but Huey didn't take it too personally, because he knew that Webby just didn't know any better. She was an only child, and hadn't grown up with friends. She didn't know that there was a difference between teasing sibling banter, and bullying.

Webby saw that Huey and his brothers often fought, and bickered, and teased each other. So when Lena started making fun of the boys or saying kinda mean things about them, Webby probably just assumed that this was no different from what the boys did with each other, and that it was normal kid stuff.

Despite Lena's claim that the playground was apparently too boring for her, she and Webby wasted no time in dashing off to the seesaw. Dewey went to the jungle gym to practice some of that parkour stuff that Webby had been showing him. Huey was content with just going to sit on the swings. He was surprised though when Louie came to join him.

"You doing okay?" Louie asked as he sat down on the swing next to Huey's. Louie looked concerned and cautious, which weren't really emotions that he was willing to show all that often. Huey knew what the look was about though, and he was quick to assure his brother that things were fine.

"Yeah, I'm good." Huey swung his legs to get the swing going. "Lena's personality just takes some getting used to, I guess."

"Yeah, she's a little-" Louie trailed off.

"Scary?" Huey guessed.

"Intense." Louie corrected quickly. He tightened his grip on the swing chains and glared at the ground. "I'm not scared of her."

"Okay." Huey knew better than to disagree. Louie was a bit of a scaredy cat, though he would forever deny it. Still, this was another reason why Huey had his guard up around Lena. When they had first met the first thing she had done was attack Louie and scare the feathers off of him. Louie may get scared easily, but it took a lot to really shake him up as badly as Lena had. She had terrified Louie, and it would take more than some smooth talking for Huey to forget or forgive her for that.

The two of them sat on the swings for a few minutes before Louie finally groaned and gave in to what he had possibly been thinking since he had sat down. "Geez, this is boring. How can you like this?"

"Nobody's forcing you to do this." Huey laughed as he put his feet down on the ground to stop himself. "We can do something else. I know you like the seesaw."

"Well, yeah, who doesn't?" Louie shrugged. "But the girls are on it."

Huey hopped off his swing and held a hand out to his brother. "They've been on it long enough. They can give us a turn." Louie grinned and got off his swing. The two of them headed to the seesaw. Webby's back was to them, but Huey saw Lena glance their way, which meant that she was aware that they were there. That should make asking fairly simple.

"Hey, guys, you think we can have a turn?" Huey asked, but he got no response. Webby was laughing and was probably caught up in her own little world, it happened sometimes, but Huey knew that Lena had heard him. She just chose to ignore him instead. "Hey!" He raised his voice in hopes that it would give him a better response, but still nothing.

"You've got to try harder than that, Hubert." Louie shook his head in mock disappointment. "Let the master show you how it's done." Louie was pretty good at getting people to give him what he wanted. Because Louie was intimidated by Lena (and Huey didn't blame him for that at all), he approached Webby to ask her directly.

It wasn't until Louie was right behind Webby, ready to tap her on the shoulder did Huey realize that this maybe wasn't the best idea. Especially not when Webby was lost in her own little world of Webby-ness.

"Louie, wait!" Huey called out just as his brother put a hand on the girl's shoulder when her side of the seesaw was down. What happened next happened so quickly that Huey could have missed it if he so much as blinked. The instant that Louie touched Webby's shoulder she reacted by complete instinct. The girl cried out in alarm and warning and flipped off of the seesaw (Huey didn't know whether it was cool or a little sad that she couldn't even duck away from trouble without doing it like a professional gymnast).

She didn't have stable footing to begin with though, and the ground wasn't as flat and sturdy as it probably should have been, so Webby ended up landing awkwardly in what looked like a painful way.

Huey barely considered how potentially hurt Webby was, because the moment that Webby jumped off the seesaw the end that was now riderless snapped up, because of Lena's weight on the other end, and hit Louie harshly in the face on its way up. Louie cried out in pain and clutched at his beak with his hands.

Within a matter of seconds their innocent playtime at the park had become a disaster. Two of the five of them were hurt, and none of them knew how badly. He wasn't the only one that was concerned though.

"Webby!" Lena hurried off of the seesaw and went to the fallen girl. Webby was on the ground, clutching at her ankle, which was beginning to look swollen, and whimpering slightly in pain. It was clear that her ankle was twisted, if not sprained or even broken. Dewey also ran over from the jungle gym to check on their friend. Huey didn't blame either of them for checking on Webby before Louie, because they both needed attention. And, on the surface, Webby's injury did seem more serious.

But Louie had always been much better at hiding his emotions than Webby was.

"Hey, tough guy." Huey kept his tone gentle and even. He couldn't afford to show how panicked he was feeling on the inside. The Junior Woodchuck's Guidebook said that one of the most important steps for treating the injured was to keep calm, because it would encourage them to calm down.

Huey sat down on the ground next to his brother and stroked his feathers soothingly. "I know you don't like looking weak, but I need to know how badly hurt you are. I can't help you if I don't know that much." Louie let out a strangled noise that sounded half like a whimper, and half like a groan of pain. "I need you to let me see your beak."

Louie curled in on himself and shook his head. With his eyes scrunched up tight and his hands over his beak, it was impossible to tell how much pain he was in.

"Come on, Louis." Huey put his hands on Louie's and gently pulled them away from his face. "You know you don't have to be tough with me." Huey was successfully able to uncover Louie's beak, and he felt a chill go over him when he was able to get a good look at it.

At first glance Louie's beak looked uninjured, but a closer look showed that his bottom beak where the seesaw board had hit it was cracked and slightly chipped. It was even bleeding slightly, which wasn't a good sign at all.

Louie whimpered in pain and Huey quickly started stroking his feathers again. "It's okay, Louie." Huey said quietly. "I know it hurts."

"Hey, Reddy." Huey tensed when he heard Lena's judgemental and frustrated voice. He was not in the mood to deal with her. "We could use a little help with Webby. Stop messing around with Greeny and get over here."

That was it!

"His name is Louie." Huey was getting sick and tired of Lena not even trying to learn their names, just because she refused to get to know them beyond being triplets. "And believe it or not, Webby isn't the only one hurt right now. If you really don't know how to do basic first aid, let Dewey take over. Now shut up and let me take care of my brother."

"...What was that?" Lena growled, and Huey didn't have to be looking at her to know that she was just itching for a fight.

Well, that made two of them.

"Guys, not now." Dewey pleaded. "We need to get help." They weren't far from McDuck Manor, but with Webby's hurt ankle and Louie in serious pain, it would be difficult to get all the way there. It would be better for all of them if they called Mrs. Beakley, who knew first aid, and asked her to come get them.

Dewey got out his cell phone. Before he made the call though he looked at Huey seriously. "Remember what the Junior Woodchuck's Guidebook says is the first rule for helping someone who is injured."

"Keep calm." Huey ground out as he turned his attention to his hurt brother again. He couldn't afford to let Lena get to him. He had to keep calm and in control. He had to be the mature one in this situation.

"Junior Woodchuck's?" Huey could hear the jibe in her voice before she had even said it. "That's adorable." There it was.

"It helps to prepare us for emergencies and accidents like this." Dewey said as he dialed the mansion's number.

"Accident?" Lena's tone was stiff and angry. "No, this wasn't an accident." Huey tightened his grip protectively around his brother. She had better not be going where he thought she might be going with this. "Accidents happen by chance and are unavoidable."

"That's not necessarily true." Dewey tried to say, but Lena was just getting started.

"This incident wouldn't have happened if your brother hadn't acted like a complete idiot."

...No. She did not just say that. Forget keeping calm and being the mature one. Lena was not allowed to say that! That was not okay.

"No, this accident wouldn't have happened if you had just gotten off your high horse and answered me when I was trying to talk to you." Huey snapped as he felt his anger build up and begin to burn out of control. "And none of this would have happened if Webby would just figure out how to separate reality from her hyper crazy world of insanity!"

Huey's ears were ringing, and the silence that followed his outburst only made it stand out more. The only sounds that Huey could hear were Louie's whimpers as he clutched to his shirt, and Webby's little sobs. Huey felt his his anger drain away when he realized that he had gone to far. He always did this. He couldn't use his anger the way Uncle Donald could, he let it completely control him.

And now he had made Webby cry. That really hadn't been his intention. He was starting to love the girl like a sister, so, of course, he had to go and screw things up. He had lost his temper, and now she probably thought that he hated him. He didn't, he really didn't. He wasn't even truly mad at her.

Huey was frustrated with the circumstances. He was mad about how Webby's quirkiness had gotten somebody hurt, just like he had known it eventually would. But Huey didn't blame Webby for it at all, because he knew that she couldn't help it. Webby and Louie were actually the only ones that he wasn't mad at.

Huey was mad at Lena, for continually pushing his buttons. He was mad at Dewey for always acting like he was the one taking the high road when he was rarely ever the responsible one. He was furious with himself for losing his temper so easily. But he wasn't mad at Webby.

Huey hated the ugly feeling that built up in his gut after he lost his temper like this. The only thing he could do at this point was turn his attention to something that would get his mind off of his anger and guilt. And the best thing for him to focus on was his brother, because there was nothing that held his focus and attention more than his family.

It wasn't too long before Mrs. Beakley arrived, though the minutes passed at a crawlingly slow pace for Huey. He, Dewey, and Lena barely paid any attention to each other. They all just kept their attention focused on Webby and Louie.

Dewey was the only one who really did something productive while they waited. He was the one who called Mrs. Beakley, and then immediately after getting off the phone he used his Junior Woodchuck knowledge to wrap up Webby's leg securely. Once Webby was as comfortable he could get her Dewey went to help Huey keep Louie calm.

Louie...he was in serious pain, and he was shaking a little bit, though Huey suspected that it was just half because of pain, and half because he was just scared, and Huey really couldn't blame him. Pain was scary, and beaks were extremely sensitive, and very important for a duck, or any bird.

Huey just hoped that that this wasn't a serious, permanent injury, because he didn't know if they would be able to handle that.

When Mrs. Beakley arrived she took one look at Webby and Louie, and she took charge. She didn't waste time asking what happened. Mrs. Beakley picked up Webby and carried her to the car, with Lena right at her heels. With the girls taken care of Mrs. Beakley returned to the boys to help Huey and Dewey coax Louie into the car, because the hoodie wearing triplet was not in the mood to move.

The car drive itself was tense, but it was mercifully short. In just a few minutes they were pulling up to the mansion. Once again Mrs. Beakley took care of Webby first, which was just to be expected. She was her granddaughter after all. But within just a few minutes the woman returned to get Louie.

Huey didn't want to leave Louie. He wanted to stay right by his side and know exactly what was going on with him. He knew that he would just get in Mrs. Beakley's way if he stuck by his brother and refused to leave.

Besides, he had something that he had to do.

"Keep an eye on Louie." Huey said to Dewey. "I need to go talk to Webby."

Dewey sent him a stern look, which was a strange change of pace. Huey was usually the one who took on the role of the stern brother. "Don't say anything to Lena. Don't even look at her."

"That was the plan." Huey said as he ran down the hall to Webby's room. He was still feeling pretty irritated with Lena, and he didn't need to lose his temper for a second time that day. Especially not when his plan was to apologize to Webby.

Huey considered himself a bit of an impulsive kid. He didn't act recklessly, but he didn't like to hesitate. Huey wore his heart on his sleeve, and if he felt like he should do something, he did it before he could think too deeply and find an excuse to back out.

Huey never knocked on his brother's doors, so why should he start now?

Huey pushed the door open and poked his head inside. He almost pulled out when his eyes met with Lena's. He had thought that that teenager had been intimidating before, but she was absolutely terrifying now. When Webby saw him in the doorway though she grinned broadly in a welcoming way.

"Hi, Huey." She didn't sound the least bit upset or angry. She was just...Webby. The girl's face fell slightly. "How's Louie?"

"I think he's going to be fine." Huey said, and he wasn't even lying just to make her feel better. Now that they were back at the manor and Louie was under the care of somebody who actually knew what they were doing, he really did feel better about this whole thing. "How are you doing?" Huey felt bad that he had barely paid Webby any mind up to this point.

"Oh, I'm fine. It's just a minor sprain." Webby waved off his concern. Lena, on the other hand, didn't even accept that he was sincere.

"I don't see why you care." Lena glared at him. "Considering you think this is all her fault."

"I don't." Huey's eyes went wide. He looked desperately at Webby. "I swear, that's not what I meant."

Webby twiddled her fingers, like she did when she felt self conscious about something. "I know." She said, and Huey could tell that she meant it, which was a relief. "Your brother was hurt, you were worried, and flustered, and words don't come out right when that happens. Trust me, I understand. It's why I'm such a bad liar."

It felt like a weight was lifted off of Huey's chest. Lena was still furious, and Huey could practically see her fuming, but he was tired of dealing with her. Lena was a difficult bird to please, and Huey really didn't think that it was worth the effort. Maybe Webby felt like her friendship was a great thing, and Huey was glad that she could feel that way, but it just wasn't his kind of thing.

Huey glanced at Webby's foot and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Dewey had wrapped it, but it was a shoddy job at best. "You mind if I-?" Huey gestured towards Webby's ankle.

"Go ahead." Webby said with a smile. Huey approached the bed that Webby was sitting on and climbed on top of it. Her leg was resting on a pillow which was good, but Huey knew that it would be best if she had some ice on her foot to sooth it.

Huey turned to Lena. "Can you go get an ice pack?" He asked the teenager. She didn't look happy about the request, but she went without complaint, because she knew as well as he did that the cold would help make Webby's ankle feel better.

Huey felt himself relax once Lena had left the room. She just made him kind of nervous. And it was a lot easier to open up to Webby without the teenager leering at him behind his back.

"I really am sorry." Huey said quietly as he began to gently unwrap Webby's ankle so he could do it better. "I hate it when I get my temper get the better of me."

"You know, I was actually wondering if one of you got angry like Donald does." Webby said. "So, are you the triplet with anger issues?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess so." Huey rubbed the back of his neck. He wasn't really comfortable with thinking of himself as the angry triplet, but it was true. Between him, Louie, and Dewey, Huey was the one who let his anger build up until he couldn't hold it in anymore. Louie let his annoyances show 24/7, so there wasn't really much time for it all to build up. Dewey was probably the most even tempered of the three of them, but when his feelings got hurt, he put up a shield of anger, almost like he was trying to scare others away so he wouldn't end up hurt again.

Either that or he put all of his efforts into trying to find another explanation for something other than the obvious solution that just hurt too much...wait a minute.

"Hey, Webby?" Huey asked in a quiet tone. "You and Dewey have been spending a lot of time together."

"Oh, yeah." Webby said cheerfully. She wasn't very good at recognizing awkward or subtly upset tones. "I've been helping him find out more about your...something."

Huey felt his heart race and he looked at Webby with wide, pleading eyes. "What have you guys been looking into?" What was so important that Dewey was all but obsessed with it? And why was he keeping it a secret from his brothers?

Webby's smile fell. "...Please don't ask me that." She said in a quieter tone that really didn't suit her. Webby refused to meet Huey's eyes. "You know I'm bad at lying, and Dewey made me promise not to tell you guys."

Huey felt his heart drop. Dewey was really going out of this way to keep him and Louie in the dark. Why? What was he up to? Huey knew that if he really wanted to he could just continue to ask Webby and sooner or later she would give in, but he didn't want to do that to her.

Besides, if this was Dewey's little secret, than Huey wanted to hear it from him.

"Okay, I won't ask you anymore." Huey promised, but he would be talking to his brother about this. Huey finished properly wrapping Webby's ankle. "There. That should hold better."

"Thanks." Webby said as Lena came back into the room with an ice pack, and Mrs. Beakley was right behind her. Huey all but bounded off the bed when he saw the woman.

"Is Louie okay?" Huey asked in a voice that he knew was too loud, but he didn't really care at the moment.

"Your brother is fine." Mrs. Beakley assured him as she checked on Webby. "His beak will be sore for a week or two, but it should heal." Huey breathed a sigh of relief.

"Great." Huey breathed a sigh of relief. He was eager to return to his brother's side, but he didn't really want to leave Webby.

The girl could see the hesitation in his eyes, so she made up his mind for him. "Go see your brother." Webby waved him off. "I'm fine."

Huey smiled at her. "Thanks." He said before he ran out of the room to go back to Louie's. He would have ran straight there, but Huey slowed down when he saw Dewey walking down the hall coming from the opposite direction. He was probably going to check up on Webby.

Huey knew that this wasn't a good time to ask Dewey about what he was hiding, but he couldn't help it. It was on his mind, and before he could even think of keeping it to himself Huey said his question out loud. "What are you hiding from us?"

Dewey froze at Huey's question. "I-I'm not hiding anything." Dewey said quickly.

"Don't lie to me." Huey pleaded. "Webby all but told me that you're hiding something from us, she just wouldn't tell me what it is."

Dewey breathed a sigh of relief. "Good."

"No, not good." Huey frowned at his brother and took a step towards him. "I don't like that there are secrets between us, Dewey. Secrets and lies are just going to tear this family apart."

"I'm not so sure that it already hasn't." Dewey muttered under his breath, which really didn't make Huey feel any better. Dewey quickly started walking again, and he would have passed Huey right by without even looking at him if Huey hadn't grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Please." Huey begged. "Whatever's going on with you, me and Louie can help. You just need to let us know what's going on."

"I-I can't." Dewey turned to look at Huey, and his eyes were sad and filled with guilt and confusion. "I don't even understand what's going on, and I can't involve you guys until I do understand. I'm sorry." Dewey pulled his arm away from Huey and ran down the hall before another word could be said.

Huey just stood there for a minute. His chest began to hurt as that ugly feeling that usually just showed itself at night built up inside of him. He hated that feeling. It made him feel like he had done something wrong, or something really bad was going to happen.

Huey sighed and slowly continued the walk to Louie's room. He was so tired of Dewey's secrets. He wasn't an angry kind of tired of them, he was just...tired.

He was just so tired of everything.

Because of his slow pace it took Huey longer to get to Louie's room that it normally would, but he made it there eventually. Huey opened bedroom door and let himself in. Louie was sitting on the bed, watching something on his phone. He still looked pretty shaken up, but he looked much calmer than he had been at the playground.

"You got room up there for one more?" Huey asked. Louie shrugged and scooted over to make room for him. Huey climbed onto the bed and settled himself next to his brother. Before Louie could begin playing the latest episode of Ottoman Empire, Huey turned his face so that they were facing each other. Huey gently tilted Louie's head back so he could get a look at his lower beak.

"Huey, I'm fine." Louie complained with the tiniest of winces.

"Sorry," Huey quickly let go. "I just wanted to be sure."

"Eh, it's cool." Louie shrugged and moved his phone into a position that they could both comfortably watch from. They didn't talk about anything, they just watched their show. Huey was glad though when, halfway through the episode, Louie scooted closer to him and nuzzled him ever so slightly though. Louie wasn't normally a cuddler, but Huey most definitely was, so it was a rare treat for him to be on the receiving end of one of Louie's cuddle hugs.

Huey knew better than to ever bring it up again though.

The two of them sat there and watched Ottoman empire for a few hours before they heard a knock on the door. A moment later it was opened and Huey was surprised to see Dewey, who looked very sheepish, supporting a very excited looking Webby. Huey immediately jumped off the bed and hurried to help Dewey get Webby to the bed.

"I told Webby about our nightly sibling brother chat thing." Dewey said. "She got excited and, well, I hope you guys don't mind that I brought her."

"Nah, it's cool." Louie grinned. "The more the merrier."

"Webby is more than welcome to join us." Huey said. She was their honorary sister, after all.

Webby squealed excitedly and immediately began to bombard Louie with questions about what the protocol for their little chat was. Did they have a talking stick that they passed around to signify whose turn it was? Did they all just begin talking at the same time? Was there anything that they weren't allowed to talk about?

While Louie and Webby were distracted, Huey turned to Dewey. "Thanks for showing up."

Dewey grinned. "Hey, I said I would put more of an effort into these things, didn't I?" Dewey looked down at the ground. "Besides, maybe I have been a little too caught up in myself lately."

"A little?" Huey teased as he nudged Dewey playfully. Dewey responded by sticking his tongue out at him. Huey felt relieved at the familiarity of it all. He knew that things weren't back to normal and things weren't perfect between them. Dewey still had his secret that he refused to talk about. But at that moment Huey realized that he didn't care, because, while he knew things weren't normal, they certainly felt okay.

And with family, sometimes 'okay' felt like it was the greatest feeling in the world. It wasn't perfect, but Huey was going to take what he could get.


End file.
